Many years ago the word started to spread out that cell phones might cause cancer, however the heat went down and people just forgot about it. Now the World Health Organization (WHO) through its International Agency for Research on Cancer has published a report where it has included cell phones in the list of cancer causes. That list also includes gasoline engine and lead.

To this, the CTIA Wireless Association responded that it wasn’t stated that cell phone use would definitely cause cancer. John Walls who is CTIA’s current VP stated that the classifications made by IARC are sometimes biased and therefore not entirely true.

He continued to state that the recently published results are all based on older data; he also made reference to the FCC and said that they agreed that there wasn’t enough scientific evidence to prove the allegations made by the IARC. To this the FDA added that there wasn’t still a clear and direct association between cell phones and cancer, or any other health issue for that matter.

On the other hand the FCC’s official response was that they set standards that have to be met by the cell phone companies and those standards are founded on recommendations made by federal agencies. They also stated that they are willing to support the IARC’s suggestion on perform further testing when it comes to cell phones and radiation.

The IARC held its meeting with a team made up of 31 scientists that came from 14 different countries. The scientists stated that there aren’t enough long-term studies to determine whether cell phones can cause cancer however they all agreed that the data that they do have is sufficient to raise questions about the effect of cell phones’ radiation on human health.

Even though the IARC has not issued new standards for the use of cell phones, they have stated that the association between the phones and health issues is strong enough to require a close following of the case. That is why they insist of further testing and research in order to determine with certainty if it can cause cancer.

The IARC also stated that perhaps it was wise for users to reduce their exposure to cell phones by making use of a hands-free device.

Reference was made to a 10-year duration research where 13,000 subjects were studied. Even though it lasted a decade the results obtained were inconclusive. Therefore it was impossible to determine if there was a direct association between brain cancer and cell phone use.

For the moment, the IARC insists that people ought to take precautions with cell phone use in order to prevent developing brain tumors.